By a 2 -1 margin, Pennsylvania voters are not confident that their legislators will agree
during the special session on a plan to reduce property taxes, according to a Quinnipiac
University poll released today. A total of 31 percent are "very confident" or "somewhat
confident," while 66 percent are "not very confident" or "not confident at all."

Voters disapprove 57 - 30 percent of the job the State Legislature is doing, the
independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. But voters approve
58 - 26 percent of their own State Senator and 61 - 25 percent of their representative.

A total of 77 percent of voters say property tax reduction is "very important" or
"somewhat important" in deciding how they vote in the 2006 elections.

By a 48 - 29 percent margin, voters say they are inclined to be anti-incumbent in the
2006 state elections. But voters say 46 - 31 percent that their own Senator deserves
reelection, and say 49 - 31 percent that their representative deserves reelection.

"Most Pennsylvania voters say reducing property taxes is critical to their vote in
next year's legislative elections, but two thirds say they don't have much confidence in the
legislature agreeing on a plan," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute.

"While almost a majority say 'out with the incumbents,' only about a third say
their own State Senator or representative does not deserve reelection."

"And voters are evenly divided, 46 - 46 percent, on whether their lawmakers
should be defeated because they originally voted for the pay raise and later voted for its
repeal," Richards added.

Looking at the property tax issue, Pennsylvania voters approve 54 - 39 percent of
the proposal by Gov. Ed Rendell and the Democrats to use money gained from slot
machine gambling to pay for property tax reductions.

By a narrower 45 - 41 percent margin, voters approve of a Republican proposal to
increase the state sales tax and other state taxes and use the money to cut property taxes.

Matching the proposals head to head, voters prefer the gambling option over the
state tax hike option 55 - 35 percent.

"After a year of back and forth debate, Pennsylvania voters say using the payoff
from slot machines is a better way to get the money to lower property taxes than by
raising the sales tax and other state taxes," Richards said.

From November 30 - December 6, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,447 Pennsylvania
voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and the nation
as a public service and for research.

For additional data-www.quinnipiac.edu and quicklinks

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the state legislature is handling
its job?

25. Generally when it comes to next year's elections in Pennsylvania would you
say your mood is anti-incumbent, meaning you're inclined to vote for challengers
who are running for public office, or would you say your mood is pro-incumbent,
meaning you're inclined to vote to re-elect people already in public office?

27. Looking ahead toward the 2006 elections for the state legislature - Do you
feel that your state representative deserves to be reelected, or do you feel that
he or she does not deserve to be reelected?

32. How confident are you that the current special session of the state
legislature will agree on a plan to reduce local property taxes in Pennsylvania -
very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident, or not confident at all?

33. As you may know, the state legislature voted itself a pay raise in July and
then repealed it in November. If your state legislator voted for the pay raise
in July and then voted to repeal it in November, would you vote against them next
time they are up for reelection just because they voted for the pay raise in the
first place?